GINOWAN--In her first election, 18-year-old Riko Agena cast her ballot for Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki because he opposes the central government’s U.S. military base project.

The third-year high school student lives in Ginowan, a city that hosts the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

“Since there is a U.S. base here, we have to endure aircraft accidents and noise,” said Agena, who lives about 1 kilometer from the air station.

Tokyo and Washington in the late 1990s agreed on the return of the Futenma airfield land to Japan, mainly because the base sits dangerously in the middle of a sprawling residential area.

But the agreement came with the condition that a replacement facility would be built. The Henoko district of Nago, also in Okinawa Prefecture, was later picked as the replacement site.

Agena said her family members are united in the view that “relocating the base to Henoko will not resolve the U.S. base issue” in Okinawa Prefecture, home to about 70 percent of U.S. military installations in Japan.

Tamaki handily won the Sept. 11 governor’s election largely on such anti-base sentiment.

His main rival, Atsushi Sakima, who was backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, vowed to revitalize the local economy with central government funds by drawing on his close ties with the LDP administration.

A 31-year-old civil servant in Urasoe said Sakima’s pledge to provide free school lunches, day care and health care for children was an attractive package because she is raising two toddlers.

But she voted for Tamaki because she wants “no part” in such support if the funds are secured in exchange for accepting the controversial base project.

She noted that reclamation work off Henoko has continued despite islanders’ opposition shown repeatedly through elections.

She occasionally sees posts on social media claiming that “only activists outside Okinawa Prefecture are opposed to the project, not Okinawans.”

“But that is not true,” she said.

She believes the gubernatorial election can serve as an opportunity to drive home to the central government and people on the main islands that Okinawans are still opposed to the Henoko relocation plan.

“That is why I voted for Tamaki, and I want him to know it,” she said.

Takashi Nakamatsu, a construction worker in Naha, said he cast his ballot for Tamaki, but it was a tough decision.

“I was caught in a dilemma,” he said.

Nakamatsu, 68, said he was initially leaning toward Sakima, a former Ginowan mayor, because the base relocation project would bolster Japan’s defense.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Japan’s role to deal with a possible contingency between China and Taiwan weighed heavily on his mind during the election campaign.

But Nakamatsu became more suspicious of the LDP after ties between party lawmakers and the Unification Church came to light following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July. The church has been accused of pressuring followers to make repeated donations, such as the mother of Abe’s suspected killer.

Nakamatsu criticized the LDP over its reluctance to open a full investigation into the issue.

And Sakima’s affiliation with the church was unveiled before the start of campaigning.

“In Japan, Okinawa is the only prefecture that dares to speak against the LDP,” Nakamatsu said. “If Tamaki loses, no prefecture will stand up to the party.”

Masanao Nakamura, a 46-year-old resident of Nago, said he voted for Sakima because he believed the candidate’s connections with the LDP administration could help turn around the depressed local economy.

Nakamura drives a dump truck that carries dirt to the landfill area off Henoko.

He previously worked at a hotel in the city. But after the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the local tourism industry, he struggled to make ends meet, earning less than 200,000 yen ($1,400) a month.

His pay as a truck driver is much better, and he realized that cooperating with the central government’s base relocation project comes with a generous reward.

“The central government has overridden Okinawans’ steadfast opposition and proceeded with the base project,” Nakamura said. “The islanders’ income should be raised at least to a level on par with those on the main islands.”

A 62-year-old driver in Naha also voted for Sakima because he seemed more capable of rebuilding Okinawa’s tourism industry that has been battered by the public health crisis.

The driver works under commission-only remuneration contract.

After the pandemic struck, he had a long stretch of days with no customers. He had to repeatedly borrow money just to survive.

Tourists have slowly begun returning to the prefecture, but his income is still about half of the level of the pre-pandemic days.

“Tourism is the engine of Okinawa’s economy,” he said. “I keenly hope the governor will lay out plans to reinvigorate the local economy.”